A few years ago, I read somewhere about a woman who traveled the world and sent postcards to herself back home. When she finally returned and settled down, she had thousands of postcards that told the story she had never remembered to write in a journal.
Shortly after that, a friend pointed me in the direction of a tale that she said was right up my alley. The author had been mailing postcards to themselves for quite some time and had, after several years, collected tidbits from them and bound them together and handed them to a publisher.
This past winter, I found a book on the shelves of my parents’ house. It is a collection of tidbits from a traveler’s life, pulled from journals and postcards and the backs of receipts. Decades of life and living stuffed into one book. It’s like a Sarah-magnet, that book.
Recently, I have been thinking about Charlotte’s baby book. I do not keep a list of milestones. I hardly ever remember to video tape. So I’ve been left with photographs of this beauty of mine, piles of photographs and oodles of letters, and then I realized that I want to do something different for her. I don’t want her childhood albums to be filled to the brim with letters in Helvetica and photographs of times passed. I want her to have something she can hold, something she can touch, something she can run her fingers along when her hair is grey and her own children have littles and I am but a memory, a whisper of what was. I want her to have something real, something upon which my husband and I etched our love, something she can memorize the sensation of, something that she can feel her childhood seeping out of.
And yesterday, I wrote her a postcard.
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This melts my heart a little! What a lovely idea. And what fun it will be for you choosing the postcards.
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Oh I have to say I love this one too!!
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Totally cool idea. Thank you for sharing it!!
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Goosebumps! What a great idea!
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What a perfect idea! I love it!
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What a great idea!! Thanks for sharing!
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What a beautiful idea - such a lovely sentiment she can hold onto forever!
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I was just saying to someone this morning that time passes so fast we should WRITE more stuff down (and take lots of pictures).
I *love* the idea of sending your daugher a postcard. I’ve also heard of people setting up e-mail accounts for their kids and writing to them whenever they think of it. Personally, I’m trying to do a “dear layla” and “dear meaghan” post every 6 months or so on my blog…
Great post!
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very sweet…great idea!!!
I am not great with the baby book, but I love photographs, too. I plan to do a photo book each year at Finnley’s birthday to tell her story in pictures. I hope she loves them one day!
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This blog is her baby book Sarah! A treasured keepsake that can never be lost. But the postcard - also very cool. I wish I had videotaped my kids more when they were babies and toddlers. That’s what I wish I’d done differently.
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What a great idea.
Love your blog. You have a new follower:)I also wanted to invite you to stop by and check out my site for moms. ChatterScene.com
It really isnt a very busy place yet but it is a wonderful place:) -
Absolutely, Sarah. This blog—totally her baby book. You may want to edit out certain “daddy and mommy special time” entries (or not… a little bit of child scarring is good. Toughens ‘em up), but really, this blog is such a love devotional. Hard day? You still love her, immensely. Great day? Love, immensely. And you’re recording her special and other moments far better than any other memory book I’ve seen.
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<3, hurrah for postcards from the past.
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What a lovely idea. I may just have to try it.
My Gracie has started ignoring me when I have the camera and she’s not even 5 months old!!!
Just like her daddy. I fear that all of her baby pictures will be of her head turned away from the scary flash! HA.
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I’m doing something similar with my son. Every week, I take a picture of him and turn it into a postcard for the grandparents. They love getting an update with a new photo to show off!
I might have to follow your lead and make one more to send back to him. Anyone know if boys are as sentimental about this sort of thing?
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What a lovely idea. One that I may start doing…
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I LOVE this idea!
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My husband gets a postcard on every trip he goes on and frames them in a simple frame on the wall of his home office. We’re just about ready to move on to a second wall. :)
I think your idea is fabulous!
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I think that’s just about the most fantastic idea I’ve ever heard. Would you mind terribly if I borrow it?
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oh gosh, that’s a wonderful idea !!!!
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This is such a lovely idea. I read a blog of a travelling family, who’s children chose and sent postcards to themselves when they were on a trip. At home, they’d put the postcards in albums to remember their trips. We are planning a round the world trip, leaving in November, and I am going to get our children to do this too.
By Stephanie on March 31, 2010
OH MY GOSH.
First, I am the same way. I love love love stuff like this. And…I might use this idea.